Stay
Informed...

CamNews

Senior School

The Senior School has certainly been a hive of activity this past fortnight with many girls rehearsing for the up-coming House Dance competition on Friday 24 March in Barbara Sutton Hall at 7pm. House Dance from my perspective, is one of the most fun and colourful events in the House calendar. Learning requires fun and enjoyment through shared effort and this event typifies for me that sense of shared achievement and team work, which are great skills for our girls to develop. Best wishes to all the Houses for competition night.

The House Athletics held last week was also another example of the cross-age interactions and student leadership that we promote through the House system. More details follow later in this article, however I would like to thank Lauren Law, Head of Sport for all her organisation on the day. Lauren as well as her team of PE staff and the entire teaching staff supported the student leaders to ensure the day was most successful.

Last night we held our first VCE Learning Conversations (Parent Teacher Interviews) for 2017. At these nights, we strongly encourage our students to attend with their parents to share in a conversation about their learning with each of their teachers. These sessions provide the opportunity to obtain feedback and set goals for future learning. As a reminder I encourage all parents to log onto Parent Lounge to organise interview times when the Learning Conversations are being conducted and also to regularly check the parent area of SEQTA to see the on-going feedback that teachers are providing re set tasks.

Preliminary Diving CarnivalThe Camberwell Girls diving team participated in the GSV Preliminary competition held at MSAC on Friday 3 March. All the girls put in an exceptional effort and we would like to congratulate the Juniors on coming 4th, the Intermediates for coming 6th, and the Seniors for coming 4th place on the day.

We were fortunate to achieve a fantastic overall result of 4th place, and qualify for the Division Two Championship Carnival on Tuesday 21 March. Well done to all the girls who competed, we are very proud of all of their achievements.

Preliminary Swimming CarnivalThe Camberwell Girls Swimming and Diving Program is going from strength to strength every year and it was great to see the impressive display of results at the GSV Preliminary carnival last Friday. A slightly sleepy group of girls from all year levels assembled in the gym at 6:45am before heading off to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre for an exciting and rewarding day in the pool.

Our Years 7 and 8 girls swum many noteworthy races and it’s encouraging to see that the future of our Swimming Program is in an excellent place. Overall, their total results brought them into 4th place against the other schools, an excellent result for our junior girls.

The intermediate girls also had some outstanding results and came 5th overall, with lots of girls placing in the top three for their individual events and relays.

The senior team was affected by the absence of a few ill teammates but worked together to ensure that every event was filled. And, we thank all the girls who stepped out of their comfort zone and put their hands up to help fill events.

Many thanks to Head Swim Coach, Peter Kitney and Head of Sport, Lauren Law who have worked extensively with us both in and out of the pool. Without them, we wouldn’t have seen such a great result in the pool on the day.

A huge thanks to all the girls who swum on the day, and all the staff and parents who supported us. All the girls are looking forward to competing again on Tuesday 21 March for the Division 3 Championship carnival. ~ Lydia Baird, Year 11

Congratulations – Emily Wu (Year 7)It is my pleasure to share exciting news for Emily. The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) has advised that Emily is the recipient of the Elizabeth Stainkamph Memorial Prize for 2016. The Prize is awarded to the candidate who achieves the best combined result in Eighth Grade Piano and Fifth Grade Theory conducted during that year. The Prize will be presented to Emily at the AMEB Conferring of Diplomas Ceremony on Tuesday 21 March.

Congratulations Emily.

House AthleticsOn Tuesday 7 March hundreds of excited Camberwell girls flooded Doncaster Athletics track to compete for their house in track, field and novelty events. The girls displayed great enthusiasm and team spirit as they cheered on their friends. Congratulations to Taylor House who are the 2017 overall winners of the House Athletics Trophy for 2017.

Thank you to all the staff and students who assisted throughout the day to ensure the program ran smoothly. Well done to the Sports Captains, Dorothy Li and Cara Ellis and the House Sports Captains, Molly Ewens, Natasha Tucker, Lama Halabi, Yasmin Tawfik, Kate Sturzaker, Lauren Dardis, Bella Dunn and Bella Nielsen for their leadership of the girls within their Houses.

Duke of EdinburghWe congratulate Josephine La (Year 10) on receiving her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. The award is recognition of her hard work, dedication and service to a Physical Activity, Development of a Skill, her Volunteering within the community and her Outdoor pursuits. Well done Josephine.

Parent Education SeminarLast week Senior Constable Greg Garrisson the Boroondara Youth Resource Officer presented to the combined CGGS and CGS parents on the topic of Cyber Safety within our Parent Education Sessions. We thank Greg for his time and also the strong messages he shared with the parents on this topic. It was particularly helpful for me to then be able to share with our parents the work we are doing at CGGS with the students themselves on this topic within their Form, Year Level and Pastoral times, as well as electives and the Life Skills lessons.

International Women’s Day – Wednesday 8 MarchInternational Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated for more than 100 years. In over 30 countries across the world, it is a public holiday focused on expressing appreciation and gratitude for women in society.

Originally, it was a day to honour the women workers who were struggling for recognition in the early 1900s. They were protesting for better working conditions and better living conditions for themselves and their children. They wanted equality and the right to vote. These women were the pioneers of gender equality.

Today, IWD is a global day to celebrate and acknowledge the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. IWD is also a day about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action to achieve gender parity.

A lot has been achieved. However, it is still an unfortunate fact that women are not paid equally to their male counterparts, women are not equally represented in business or politics, and globally the education, health and the violence against women is worse than that of men.

In 2017, the IWD theme is B’e Bold For Change’. We are being asked to stand up and be bold by:

challenging bias and inequality

campaigning against violence

forging women’s advancement

celebrating women’s achievements, and

promoting women’s education.

It is important that we reflect on the women who are important in our lives, let them know that we appreciate them, and consider how we can contribute to enhancing gender parity.

Thank you to School Counsellor, Paula Kolivas for encouraging every student and staff member to visit the official IWD website and to consider how we can as individuals and as a Camberwell Girls community Be Bold For Change to achieve gender equality.

At Senior School we celebrated IWD through writing chalk messages of encouragement and the names of women who inspire us on all the open areas, courtyards and the main driveway.

Share the Dignity

Every year countless woman flee their home to break free from domestic violence. In many circumstances this also means these woman are now homeless and have no money for the basic necessities that you and I take for granted. Share the Dignity and their many volunteers believe that no woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating, feeding her children or buying sanitary products; Access to sanitary items is a right, NOT a privilege.

Almost two in three people seeking homelessness support in Victoria are female! The common stereotype of homelessness was the older male but the people most likely to seek help were women between 25 and 34 years.

Last year, more than double the number of women than men, 40 compared to 18.6 were turned away from homelessness services everyday. With women and children fleeing family violence it is the single biggest driver of homelessness in our community so we are doing a great job encouraging women to leave but not so great in giving them somewhere to go!

In 2015 Rochelle Courtenay had a vision, and in just over two years this vision has grown into a movement that is truly inspiring. Share the Dignity works with over 1100 volunteers and 2000 charities across Australia, bringing dignity to many women.

At Camberwell Girls we have two collection boxes and we urge students to drop off their donations at the Senior School Student Reception.

Year 10 Mentoring BreakfastThis week the Year 10 students had the first of their Mentoring Breakfasts and it was terrific to welcome back to Camberwell Girls past School Captain, Jay Smiles from the Class of 2011 and Vice School Captain, Tiarnie Ellingworth from the Class of 2016. Thank you to Careers Counsellor, Trish Dolan and Alumnae Relationships Coordinator, Karen Bartram for the work they do in ensuring that our students hear from great speakers on topics that are relevant to students at the cusp of their VCE.

Further to the presentation about the topic, ‘The New Work Mindset’, included are some brief points from the Foundation for Young Australians work in this area. This makes for important reading for students and parents alike and is the message very clearly articulated by our Principal, Mrs Dunwoody.

‘’This report shows that we need to shift our focus from jobs to skills to prepare young people for the future of work. By understanding the skills and capabilities that will be most portable and in demand in the new economy, young people can work to equip themselves for the future of work more effectively. Our mindset needs to shift to reflect a more dynamic future of work where linear careers will be far less common and young people will need a portfolio of skills and capabilities, including career management skills to navigate the more complex world of work.

However, jobs are more related than we might first think. Not all jobs require the acquisition of an entirely new skill set, instead, the skill sets of many jobs are ‘portable’ to other jobs. In fact, on average, when an individual trains or works in 1 job, they acquire skills for 13 other jobs. This is because, for many jobs, employers demand very similar skills. Most young people are skilled for more jobs than they or potential employers, actually realise.

Rather than choosing an occupation with an unbroken path to seniority, a young person could think about developing a portfolio of skills that opens doors to a group or ‘cluster’ of jobs. Rather than asking a young person, what is your ‘dream job’, it may be more useful to ask what is your ‘dream job cluster’?’’